[BUG] Infinite hang at 'Crunching/Seasoning' spinner between tool calls

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Claude Code hangs indefinitely at the 'Crunching…' or 'Seasoning…' spinner between tool calls during feature implementation tasks. The hang occurs after tool calls complete successfully and Claude transitions to planning its next step. The session never recovers — it must be force-quit with Ctrl+C.

This did not happen on previous versions. API latency is confirmed healthy (curl to api.anthropic.com returns in ~148ms).

Example Output

⏺ I need to check the admin product API to see if it includes jewelry data, and the Prisma schema for jewelry models.
⏺ Searching for 1 pattern… (ctrl+o to expand)
  ⎿  "app/api/admin/product/[id]/route.ts"
✶ Seasoning… (10m 9s · ↑ 198 tokens)

What Should Happen?

Expected Behavior

Claude should transition smoothly between tool calls and proceed with implementation without hanging.

Additional Context

• Hanging occurs consistently across multiple Ctrl+C + fresh session retries
• Both broad (Explore subagent) and narrow (direct file reads) approaches trigger the hang
• API is confirmed reachable and fast from the same machine
• ~/.claude.json is 38KB — not bloated
• CLAUDE.md is lean and well-structured

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce

1. Start a fresh Claude Code session
2. Ask Claude to implement a moderately complex feature in a large codebase (250+ files, Next.js + Prisma + TypeScript)
3. Claude begins reading files successfully
4. After 2–4 tool calls complete, the spinner appears (e.g. 'Seasoning…' or 'Crunching…') with minimal token activity (as low as 198 tokens uploaded)
5. Claude never proceeds — hangs for 10+ minutes with no progress

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.85 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

IntelliJ IDEA terminal

Additional Information

_No response_